Just over six months since an NHS Improvement study suggested NHS theatres were losing two hours a day of operating time due to ‘avoidable factors’, the pressure is on to improve reduce waste, improve utilisation and re-think the way theatres are managed in our hospitals.

Ashford and St Peters Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, based in Surrey, is one organisation that is putting investment in theatres at the top of their agenda.

The Trust has rolled out a steady theatres improvement plan to help teams ‘deliver care differently’ –investing in specialist theatre system, Bluespier, mapping out workflows to address wastage and introducing innovative new technology that is helping take theatres ‘mobile’.

Clinicians are engaged. Theatre teams are more agile. Management have the validated data they need to make the right decisions. And they are only just getting started.